text ↪ un: 朱

[blackfire]

（ there are a variety of reasons he has resisted making this announcement, chiefly among them that he is as fiercely protective of viveca's privacy as he is his own — however, he is keenly aware that such desire does not follow a pragmatic path. viveca must have known that sending them to this world would make her history impossible to conceal. his own tendency to withhold information from others needs to be set aside if they have any hope of bettering this — her — world.

he has spoken on the matter to a few people, those he trusts more than not — but his conversation with sam has resulted in the realization that if viveca is... upset at others learning the truth of her nature, she may as well be so with him. at least he can control the narrative, and stave off attempts at ferreting out further information about her.

thus, his delivery is entirely without embellishment — ）

E-23b is Viveca's world of origin. Those of you who have spoken with her on the matter may recall her propensity to say that she built herself — it seems she was human, and as such had a hand in the design of her digital parameters. She is the daughter of the Mayor, Jacques Reman and his wife Alexandra — with whom I have spoken directly — and was the original leader of the Fables known by the animal moniker 'Fox'.

I will not speculate on the circumstances that resulted in her being as we know her, nor explain my certainty — do not ask.

Sam Wilson is currently speaking with the Hare, confirmed to be Callan de la Cruz, and he is the source of our learning of Viveca's identity as the Fox. Presently, he appears to be an ally, and Viveca seemed to trust him — it was the symbol of the revolution that she gave Sam that sparked their conversation. If anyone can think of any information that may be pertinent to our efforts and possibly known by the Hare, please direct your queries to Sam. He is in an unknown location, and his ability to return communication is limited due to the nature of his situation. I do not believe him to be in any amount of danger, however — I would suggest that you respect both his time and his discretion in this.

（ the message ends there, for a time. some moments later, he amends it: ）

Collectively, we owe Viveca a great debt. I cannot think of better repayment than helping her home in a way that she can be proud of.

Comments

[blackfire]

As I understand it, the teleportation platforms require the proximity of an orb to function. Without it, operating them consumes a great deal of energy and is significantly more dangerous.

Similarly, while it is clear that Viveca cares deeply for this world — I do not think it very likely that she would allow herself to become distracted by its potential fate, nor send us here in an attempt to alter it, were she not certain of an orb's presence.

（ he will not discount the possibility in its entirely, of course — there is no one he trusts that much. but viveca has earned what measure of it she has from him, and he will put his faith in that. if she is wrong about the orb, he doubts it was intentional. she lacks the selfishness for that — how many times has she told him that the only thing that matters is the orbs? ）

[bossily]

[She supposes she's clinging hold of hope that their purpose in the world is to help the innocent people who are suffering. She can't do more than continue helping at the shelter whenever she's able, but she feels like she should be doing more.]

Viveca did assert the orb was in the First Circle, didn't she?

We should start digging deeper for signs of its influence there.

[blackfire]

She did.

The orbs seek chaos. What would you say provides the most chaos in this world?

[bossily]

Right now?

The Fables. They're shaking up the status quo.

But I think we'd know by now if they had it, given who Viveca was to them.

When's the last time anyone has seen her father?

[blackfire]

I feel that the Fables are more reactive chaos, not active chaos. What havoc results from their actions is as a result of the world state, the governmental oppression, and the suffering of the people.

Alexandra also seems confident that if the Fables had it, they would have used it to fix the world. She spoke very fondly of Callan.

Conversely, she thinks if Jacques had it, he would have used it to wipe the Fables out.

I believe our possibilities are:

  • the orb is currently a free agent, in which case it will likely be at or near the epicenter of some of this world's chaos, possibly the earthquake of five hundred years ago — though it would be foolish to focus on only one possible location.
  • the orb is under contract to someone who has used it for a more mundane purpose than what we have encountered so far, which is allowing them to remain off our radar. If, as an example, Jacques has it but used it to stay alive after his injuries, it may be that he is able to conceal its presence, or that he may not even comprehend the scope of its power. The same could apply to any of the residents of this world.
  • the orb was removed from this world some time between our arrival and now. If this has been done, it is likely that whoever has done so knows of our mission, as the odds of it being pure coincidence are nominal. That would suggest either a former crewmate of the Ximilia themselves, in contravention to the perception that we do not retain memories when we are returned to our world, or a being such as the Highest One.

[bossily]

I really think we ought to find out exactly how Jacques managed to stay alive. And whether or not Viveca's body is actually present somewhere on this planet. He could be quietly using the orb to keep the both of them alive.

I'm not ruling out the possibility of the last situation, though. The orb could have been taken after our arrival. But I wonder if Viveca would be able to sense that and would call us back to the station. It's something we can ask her once we figure this puzzle out and are back on the Ximila.

Oh, and Kakashi should be able to pinpoint exactly where the earthquake happened. It's in one of the domed labour camps in the Seventh Circle. It goes against what Viveca told us of the orb's location before we left, but it's something we can always look into further.

[blackfire]

Alternately, Viveca changed her regret.

If we are thought to return to our worlds at the moment we initially left it, it would account for both her mind being aboard the Ximilia in perpetuity, as a condition of a changed regret, and her body being in her planet where nothing has come of her regret being amended. I believe she would have wished to better this place — but if she did change her regret, she must have done it for what she felt to be the greater good.

The orb may be beneath the water purification camp, which seems to be the epicenter of the earthquake of 500 years ago. It is worth investigating if possible.

[bossily]

When Kakashi stumbled upon that particular camp and we realized based off of data and maps that may have been the site of the earthquake, it was definitely one of our first thoughts.

Should I have him try to get back in to look into things further?

[It's hard for her to discuss Viveca much further. The theorizing over how she came to be the AI system they know on the station is painful in some ways. All of the warnings she's given Clara about changing her regret make sense now. And she's terrified for what that means for Kovacs.]

[blackfire]

It would be best to use your discretion on the matter, Clara. What do you believe is the choice from here?

（ she does tend to defer to him in matters like this — and he is both confident in and comfortable with his own role of dictating action. but she has spent time immersing herself in self-improvement, too, and he is curious to see how far she's come with her own natural instinct at play. ）

[bossily]

I think we're out of options in the First Circle. If Kakashi is willing, we'll try looking into the purification camp.

Suppose it goes without saying that we'll check back in at some point.

[blackfire]

Doubtless.

Good luck.